There’s something about Al Pacino going literally everywhere with his sunglasses. From the 70s right through to the 90s, the man walked into every room with a pair on and made it feel normal to be wearing shades inside. Be it avoiding the paparazzi flashes or just great style its worth taking away some inspiration for ourselves.
When looking back through the photographs, the biggest key is consistency. He hardly settled on one particular look as his frames changed with the decade, the outfit or the people surrounding him. All had that same confidence about them, and it made him seem completely unbothered by others.
The early stuff is great to reference. Young Pacino in the 70s wore his sunglasses with suits to functions and casual fits on holidays. During his Scarface era he often sported slim gold metal aviators, sitting mid-face and with a mix of see through and shaded lenses. It was a rather specific adjustment to how aviators typically worked with most men opting to hide behind them. Pacino did not do that.
In Donnie Brasco in 1997, Pacino’s character Lefty wore Cazal Legends Mod 968 aviators. These had gold frames with dark lenses and a shape that was instantly took you back in time, almost as if he hadn’t let it go himself. Cazal had been a hip-hop wardrobe staple in that 80s, worn by Run-DMC and LL Cool J as a status signal. Pacino shifted from this into just an older man with a pair of sunnies he loved that looked great on him, essentially ignoring its prior symbolism.
Through the 80s the frames got darker and bigger. He leaned into the oversized Wayfarer shape like Paul Newman once sported and jet black lenses, The linen blazer worn open over a white tee with the gold chain sitting in the open collar became something of a signature look from this period and the sunglasses anchored all of it.
The 90s brought a completely different shape. Tiny oval frames that barely took up any real estate of Pacino’s face. These were subtle and gave way for his facial expressions to not be interrupted by oversized frames. It was more a styling touch than practicality.
What is interesting across all of it is the range. He wore Wayfarers, aviators, tiny ovals, round frames with tinted lenses, clear acetate, gold metal, black plastic. No two decades looked the same. But it never felt inconsistent because the approach was always the same. He put them on and let them do the talking.
There is a version of the sunglasses-as-armour theory that applies to a lot of celebrities. The shades go on and the public persona locks in. It never really felt like that was the case with Pacino though. He tended to wear them alone, with a woman, with De Niro in the back of a Limo, to the red carpet, walking down the street, quite literally everywhere.
Name another actor with a better sunglasses archive than this.